Conversation #2

             Nasrallah and I met for our second time one week after our original discussion. Our schedules only made way for about 30 minutes to talk so we decided to just grab a drink and hang out around Union Grounds. We both inquired about how each other’s weeks were going and what our plans were for the following week. After a few minutes of this introduction-type talk, I decided to gear the conversation towards Nasrallah’s family so that I could get to know some of his background better.

             Nasrallah is one of six children. He has two brothers and three sisters. Unfortunately, Nas also had a twin-brother that passed away in a car accident when he was just 12 years-old. I expressed my grievance towards Nasrallah and said I was extremely sorry to hear that.  He kind of shrugged it off and responded with a “Its life” comment. I was originally surprised by this acceptance attitude but that just shows his amazing strength in dealing with such a heartbreaking incident. As he continued to describe his family, he told me that there was something unique about a lot of families in Saudi Arabia. After a follow up question, Nasrallah told me that he has a couple dozen half-siblings. His Dad has multiple wives and even a few who he has divorced from. Obviously I was extremely intrigued about this and wanted to learn more about his culture and religion. However, I decided I would gear a future conversation towards these topics.

             One of the things I found most interesting during this second conversation was that Nasrallah is the first of his siblings to study in the United States. Thus, I asked him what brought him to the United States, and more specifically Texas, to attend school. Nas responded that his father had surgery about ten years ago and was brought to a hospital in Houston for a month or so. He did not make the trip overseas, however three of his siblings did. After hearing about their time in the states, Nasrallah knew that he wanted to come study here one day. Nas then told me that one of his cousins attended Texas Wesleyan University, which is nearby TCU. His cousin advised him to not attend Wesleyan, but instead persuaded him to look into Texas Christian University. He never visited TCU but decided to apply and, upon acceptance, enrolled in the University’s intensive English program.

             Because of the time crunch, Nasrallah and I ended our conversation there, but planned on meeting the following week.